A Diamond in the Rough (Kress)

[Professor Mors]

"Hilarious", Sa'ato growled with annoyance in light of his companion's astute but overly-casual remark, "But to be sure, I'm of no greater use to you here. In any case, the sun will be more intense at higher altitude, furthering my recovery, and besides–". Before he could go on, the juvenile quickly scooped up the Neti in their arms, holding them in both hands as if he were an infant. Two more smaller locals stepped forward as well, the now-trio clicking and staring at Kressara with determination.

Sighing glumly at his state of affairs, the professor continued, "These three often scale the cliffs by the hive to catch any offshoot gems for sustenance– they have made the journey often and know the route well". The academic paused, collected his thoughts for a moment, and spoke again with renewed focus, "I wager we can make the trek and accomplish our task in six days time. I suggest you begin your assault on the seventh. At sunset, look for our arrival at the hills…".

[Kressara Thryn]

“On the seventh…okay, that’ll work! Stay safe out there, professor. Don’t go getting your other half lost in the snow too.” Kress was ribbing on him, but the intention in her body language was kind. She liked the Neti too much to see him lost in the frozen wilds. “You three be safe too. Keep an eye on him!” She booped one of the stone juveniles where it’s nose might be if it had one and waved at the others before turning her attention to the cave art to get a better look at a world outsiders likely never saw. Kress wondered if they might one day grow to be as technologically advanced as other species, then thought perhaps it was nicer for them if they didn’t have to.

“Let’s get training! I need to see what we’ll be working with, friends.” Standing straight, she motioned for others to follow and tried to copy an attention getting click sequence, only to accidentally announce, “worm food!”

The mistaken god and her new worshippers spent the better half of the day practicing combat. Kressara handed down human boxing techniques which the rocklings attempted, some with decent success! Somehow she managed to get them paired with sparring partners. She gained a few new bruises from training with stone opponents all day before they settled into the caves to wait out one hell of a cold night. A fire was lit outside the mouth of the cavern which Kressara camped out by, surrounded by adoring mineral made company. When the temperature really plummeted and her teeth began to chatter, one of the rocklings settled itself in the coals for several minutes before lumbering over to the cold assassin. Heat radiated off it and as soon as Kress sighed her thanks, others copied until she slept surrounded by pleasantly toasty stone. Reminded her of the piles her punks huddled into on Lorcan’s living room floor back in the very beginning when all they had was one little apartment and a couple ships.

The following day was much the same with introductory to evasive action. She taught them to unbalance their enemies and how to form a defensive circle. They worked out key commands to be used in the battle and learned the basics of spear combat (though it took some doing teaching creatures with stone hands how to hold a weapon). Day after day they practiced, holding mock battles and surveying the landscape together. By the time they were ready to head out for the real thing, Kressara was quite taken with her stony battalion. She’d picked up on different personalities among them, learned a few names, and even learned that they liked playing a game similar to tic tac toe, but with polished and rough pebbles, the goal being to fill a patch of sand with your allotted texture.

The fifth day came and Kressara could feel a sense of uneasiness among her fresh trained militia, so she did what any good goddess in the flesh would do for her people. She ordered a party to revel in their future victory, dancing with fire to dazzle them with her glimmering body, and captivating her audience later in the night with tales of battles fought among distant stars. Come morning, her battalion of stone was ready to move with new pep in their heavy steps. They marched together, rested midday, and then on into the night until reaching the marshland border. It was cold and Kress had not been able to salvage as much of her insulative clothing as she would have liked, but plans were plans. Sinking in, the assassin lowered herself into muddy water like a monster slipping into the murk. Her troops followed, with their crude but sturdy weapons in hand, wading until they blended in with the boggy mess. It slowed their movements, but allowed them to enter enemy territory unseen, creeping to the other side where they lay motionless beneath shallow waters.

Kressara of course needed air, but the plan was never to keep her out of sight for long. Rising, Kressara hid in the reeds with her head just above the water and began to sing in long, projecting notes. A sentry took notice. Curious more than alarmed, it wandered closer to find the source of the strange song. Others from its patrol followed, listening, unaware of the threat lurking only inches from the shore.

“My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold…
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold~

Kressara rang out with a slow spreading smile, gripping her vibroblades under the water as their shadows stretched over her hiding place. Rocky legs broke the water's tension and Kressara ignited her weapons, signaling her militia which sprung out of the marsh, snatching every frightened rockling they could and dragging them under to savage them. Vibroblades did little against the great stone creatures, but her warriors could withstand their hard exteriors. Splashing and startled war cries alerted the full colony, forcing the avenging army out and onto the field of battle. They formed something of a wall with their spears to jab taller enemies off balance while Kressara leaped in to administer death blows with her guns, aiming for vital heart crystals more easily chipped and broken.

“Take no prisoners! They threatened your rights to live freely! To live safely! They mean harm to your elders and children! To steal your home! Fight them! Fight!!!” Her words might not have been understood, but she hoped their energy was felt by all who heard them.

[Professor Mors]

Even as a mass of violet-hued raiders charged the line, Kressara's militia held with impressive resolve, their 'throats' rumbling loudly as they mimicked the syllabic rhythm of the corvid's battle cry. And, while the stronger, stockier members of the opposition tore at the phalanx, any momentary gaps that opened were quickly sealed, a flurry of sharpened spears biting out at any that pressed their luck. Slowly, the buxom blonde's brigade began to turn the tide, as the earth-aligned chaff buckled and started to rout. If the wily young Sith thought they were out of the wheelhouse, however, they would have been mistaken.

A lone figure walked up the crest of the nearby hill, their approach quickly reconstituting the raiders' lost morale. Taller than all other and adorned with countless purple gems, the enemy leader hefted their macabre weapon in a rallying gesture: a scythe, clearly fashioned from the limbs of war dead, and whose sickle-like blade shone a sickening blue. It was apparent in a single glance that the lifeblood of Kressara's new allies had served as the primary alloy. The warchief extended the cruel instrument forward, inviting their honor guard to sprint onto the scene, their own violet blades flashing out from each forearm.

The elite forces of the earth-followers quickly brought the Sith's earlier fortunes to a standstill. A particularly bold fighter succeeded in shearing one militiaman's shield asunder, and lifting the poor hoplite overhead, bowled a path straight through the front line. Rocky torsos fell this way and that, and even the golden goddess was not immune, quickly finding themselves airborne only to land within arms reach of the rueful elites. The azure locals watched in horror, and hastened to right themselves as one of the violet foes raised their blade high, clearly intent on deicide. In that same instant however, a great shuddering shook the ground, freezing all in their tracks.

For a few moments, a heavy, rhythmic pulse shook the earth and sounded closer, then closer still, until a new combatant burst through the marshy mist, rising high onto its hind legs in challenge. One of the ant-like, stony sentinels from before levelled beady eyes at the scene ahead. As it did so, the familiar figure of Kressara's colleague, or at least, half of it became visible riding atop the insect's head, flanked by his two young accomplices from the village. "And not a moment too soon", Sa'ato smirked, before whisking his mount's antenna like a pair of reins, causing them to charge directly into the enemy masses.

Hopefully the disarray would buy the younger Sith precious time to reform ranks, and perhaps bring the opposition leadership to the sword…

[Kressara Thryn]

“Maintain formation!!!” Kress shouted as the line suffered blow after blow from their enemies, pleased to see her warriors doing just that. They worked perfectly together! Better than she could have ever hoped for. For a moment, Kress nearly forgot herself in the midst of battle to marvel at her raiding parties' quickness to learn and act out battle strategies with competence. Were she a sithier sith, she might consider bringing a few of them back to the academy.

But true to the nature of war, something never went splendidly for too long. Cresting the hill into broad sight and brandishing one sick sickle, a proper threat introduced itself to the battlefield and brought with it a raging hoard of amethystine soldiers. Sunlight peeking over the field from behind the enemy lines shown through their cores, splashing the ground between them in an eerie shade of lilac. Kress, impressed and imagining what it would feel like to get sucker punched by a stone giant, turned her attention back onto her warriors who appeared lacking a certain bravado they’d only just boasted. Better do something about that~

“Avenge your fallen! Defend your living! GROUND UM INTO GLITTER!!!”
Hollering over the stony chaos, the glimmering sith launched herself over one of her own warriors, planting her heel against the mineral throat of a purple rockling and toppling it. This attempt did not go unpunished as a much bigger, far stronger attacker burst through their lines and sent not just one or two flying, but Kressara too. The hit was absorbed by a defending cyan rockling, but they both caught air and ate dirt together. The only flesh and bone body on the field rolled over itself and just barely missed being crushed by the weight of her own ally. For only a moment, Kress lay winded before her senses kicked into overdrive and she realized they were in a scrape for their lives now. Not yet recovering her oxygen, her trained body moved regardless, sight still blotted with black spots as she tapped her fallen comrade hard on the arm, two taps, one knock. Move. She tried to warn it, and it did its best to roll out of the way before a giant stone fist smashed the earth between them, azure mineral chipping off its legs from the near miss.

A hard fought breath expanded her lungs and cleared her head just in time to see a solid stone blade bigger than her rising high, poised to strike down the glimmering goddess. Well, that couldn’t be good for morale…

“You better pray you kill me!” Kressara’s throat rumbled with the force of her shrieking, eyes flashing with wrathful intent and animalistic fear, her chipped and sputtering vibroblade whining in protest against the wind as she lifted it in defense. Not the way she pictured herself going out, but at least the kid wasn’t around to witness her utter failure. Yarkar would never let her live it down. Maybe the professor would make her death sound better than getting splattered into a pulp by the very creatures they technically came to harvest crystals off of…

The professor! Kressara hardly noticed the rumbling earth over the immediate stamping of stone feet and the adrenaline shivering her muscles, but the appearance of a colossal ant under the control of her dendroid companion sent a new surge of pure unadulterated vicious joy through her. Her would be killer’s craggy face somehow portrayed shock at the sight, and the crow cackled, “HAH! TOLD YA SO!”

Bolting longways to avoid cyan avengers piling on top of the formidable warrior, pummeling it and pulling at its purple glowing core, Kress set her sights on the big guy with the scythe. Take him down and the rest scatter.

“Round um in!” Her commands were heard by the closest raiders, echoed in their language across the wonky struggling phalanx, until the formation stretched and rounded on the scrambling enemy. Spears were linked and woven together, jammed into the ground for support as warriors turned their defensible backsides to the enemy. They formed a defense wall, but not to avoid attack. To keep the enemy from being able to retreat back up the hill from the charging ant colossus. Quick, calmly as they could, and well formed, the weaker azure raiders managed to work together with greater unity than their frazzled enemy, working around the battlefield and herding fleeing soldiers back round to the path of destruction with a reserve of their own warriors behind the living wall. With the turning of the wall, their path towards the hilltop lilac warlord opened wide.

“Raiders, ADVANCE!” Kressara’s command spurred those not holding the wall forward, marching in formation up the hill towards the less organized company rushing down to greet them. “THROW! Her command stopped the blue troops, putting the terrain to good use as they tucked in, caught the racing enemy by their knees, put their backs into it, and chucked the larger warriors up and over the formation with gravity and momentum working in their favor. Kressara ducked, Amethyst soldiers falling overhead and tumbling down the hill. Most fell to this, some enemies managing to keep upright and fight the sudden upheaval. “Wall!” Keeping their heads about them, her soldiers listened, forming a secondary, far less formidable spear wall than the one taking place below, but doing their best to keep their enemy busy dealing with the reach of their weapons and now being forced to fight on low ground against enemies intent on holding a line rather than brute force warfare.

This left Kressara and two others to take the king, so to speak. Setting her sights on the giant atop the hill, she readied her blaster and gripped her sputtering blade, flanked by azure avengers ready to follow a goddess to a legendary victory.

If only they knew their goddess was a nobody from Nez Peron turned sith drug addict, who can’t handle dairy and cries during movies meant for children.